Temperature dependent chemical shifts of pyruvate and lactate enable in vivo hyperpolarized 13C MRSI thermometry
The chemical shift of many molecules changes with temperature, which enables non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) thermometry. Hyperpolarization methods increase the inherently low <sup>13</sup>C MR signal. The commonly-used hyperpolarized probe [1-<sup>13</sup>C]pyruvate, and its metabolic product [1-<sup>13</sup>C]lactate, exhibit temperature and concentration dependent chemical shift changes that have not previously been reported. These effects were characterized at 7 T and 11.7 T in vitro and applied for in vivo thermometry both preclinically at 7 T and to human data at 3 T. Apparent temperature values from mouse abdomen and brain were similar to rectally measured temperature. Human brain and kidney apparent temperatures from <sup>13</sup>C MRSI were lower than known physiological temperatures, suggesting that additional effects may currently limit the use of this method for determining absolute temperature in humans. The temperature dependent chemical shift changes also have implications for sequence design and for in vitro studies with hyperpolarized pyruvate.
Authors
- Jason G. Skinner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1260-8163)
- Senay Karaali
- Irina Heid
- Jae Mo Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7404-6971)
- Wolfgang Gottwald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3779-7087)
- Geoffrey J. Topping
- Martin Grashei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5019-9359)
- Mary A. McLean (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3752-0179)
- Sandra Sühnel
- Luca Nagel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5530-6264)
- Martin Gierse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8187-5903)
- Ferdia A. Gallagher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4784-5230)
- Franz Schilling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5239-4628)
- Frits H. A. van Heijster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-5189)
- Stephan Knecht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8487-4324)
- Ilai Schwartz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5621-859X)
- Wolfgang Eisenreich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9832-8279)
- Nadine Setzer
- Zumrud Ahmadova
Institutions
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Center (GB)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Advanced Imaging Research (United States) (US)
- Isotopen Technologien München (Germany) (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Imaging
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44303-025-00081-3
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.76
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme